“Well, I am done.” Adrian said after viciously cutting the left arms of the critters.

“With what? The system or the quest?” Dale joked.

Adrian sighed. “With both.” He got up, letting the corpse of the two extra mantises rest in peace. “We should get going before it gets dark.”

Even though the party had traveled a lot in the last few hours, they had a save march as Aby remembered the way back to the river, even if she was now trembling a lot while walking. Half an hour was enough to get back. Then Adrian dropped his left mantis arms and removed his shoes.

“What are you doing?” Aby said and instantly threw the mantis parts once she stopped.

“My trainers are too modern,” Adrian explained. “So, I decided to go barefoot to Czecheri.”

“Czecheri?” Mike asked, also dropping the arms and making a pile with Aby’s.

“That’s the name of the city.” Adrian answered. Then he extended his own arms to make as a gesture so the rest could give them directly the quest’s objectives.

“Are you going to carry all that trash to the city while being barefoot?” Kayle asked, wiping her hands at the river.

“Yes. Yes, I will.” Adrian told her. “Even if I don’t like the idea.”

Axel collected the remaining arms that were at the ground and gave them to Adrian.

“I should be back in an hour or two.” Adrian said optimistically and marched towards the city.

Though Adrian was tired and hungry, the walk was easier thanks to his [Celeratio]. He also modified his newly discovered Elthary Rule time perception. So, the tedious hike became a short walk by the forest.

Once Adrian saw Czecheri’s main door, he set back his time perception to the metric system, trying to avoid looking to weird to Mundompio’s citizens. The guards didn’t stop him this time as they were the same as before, now they only looked with frowned faces at Adrian and his pile stock of mantises’ arms.

In less than five minutes, Adrian was back at the guild. It seemed that rush hour had ended as there were a whole less people at the guild. Adrian thanked that to whichever god exists at Mundompio, as there was only one person in the queue beside him. In no time it was Adrian’s turn, he chooses the desk where he went before because the female officer was still there.

“Back already?” She asked as she looked at the mount of monster’s arms that were wrapped in Adrian’s arms.

“Yeah, I am tired, though.” Adrian replied. “Where do I leave these bad boys?”

“Leave them there.” The female officer pointed at a clean space where there was a linen rug covering the ground.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Adrian did so, finally getting rid off that weight and walked back to the desk.

“Here you have.” Said the officer as she put five huge copper coins in front of Adrian. He supposed that those counted as five copper coins each one.

Adrian almost left after grabbing the coins, but he rapidly turned back to the officer. “Wouldn’t you know a place where I can buy some provisions and shoes?”

“Sure.” She replied with a not friendly grin. “There’s a guild-sponsored shop next to this building. There you can buy all the basics: food, clothes, and weapons. Everything is cheap, but the quality is horrendous.”

“Shouldn’t you say that as a guild worker?” Adrian asked her.

“They don’t pay me enough.” She sighed, tired after endless hours of bottomless paperwork.

Adrian left the counter, except that he turned again and talked to the female officer. “Last question, I promised.” She gazed at Adrian with the might of a thousand banshees but finally agreed with her eyes. “What do you do with the mantis’ arms?”

“The guild uses them as grinding stones and some parts of the keratin as light armor.” The officer replied. “Now, go away.”

And so, Adrian did. He didn’t want to wreck the woman’s day even more; she did seem stressed. Adrian walked out of the guild, he could have grabbed another quest but decided against it. ‘Better to catch them fresh’, he thought.

It was obvious which store was the one that the guild sponsored, it had a square wooden sign hanging in front of the door with the logo of the guild. The sign wasn’t as large as the guild’s signboard, but it did its job.

Adrian entered the store. The first he noticed was the smell, it was like a men’s bathroom at a gas station on a very hot summer day. Adrian wasn’t alone although it was 7 p.m. There was a girl, probably a teenager at Earth, that wore a light leather armor over a dirty brown linen shirt. She only was there a moment as she bought survival rations and a few small bolts. Once she went to the exit, Adrian came to the store counter.

“What rations do you sell?” Adrian asked at the wide and hairy clerk. If he was shorter, Adrian could have mistaken him for a dwarf.

“Dry bread and jerky.” The clerk told Adrian. “Sometimes cheese. Not today.” He told in a very caveman sounding wording.

“How much is it a full day ration?” Adrian asked about the price.

“Five copper a two-day meal.” The employee told. “Better to sell them in a pack. Not the first time someone dies of hunger by being greedy.”

“How much a pair of shoes?” Adrian said while looking at his feet.

“Sandals one, proper footwear five.” The man at the counter said while making the numbers with his hand.

“Nice.” Adrian commented. “How much for a cloth cloak?”

“Three copper each.” The clerk responded. “What will you have?”

“One moment.” Adrian said. “I am doing the math.”

‘Everyone needs to eat, so I should spend 15 copper in food. That will make a total of six days of food for a person, or one just for us. Next the shoes, sandals, nothing fancy. That leaves me with nine copper remaining, enough for three cloaks so we can four to the town.’ Adrian quickly thought thanks to his unconscious change of time perception, making his train of thought just half a second.

“Three ration packs, one pair of sandals, and three cloaks.” Adrian said in the next instant.

“Marching.” The clerk told Adrian. He came briefly after walking in the back shop and left the items at the counter.

“Could I get a bag for the food?” Adrian asked the employee and he raised one finger. Adrian sighed. “Remove one of the cloaks.”

The clerk did so and put the rations in one enormous sac. “Pay.”

“Yes, yes.” Adrian said and put the five big copper coins at the counter. Adrian then wore the sandals, grabbed the food sac, and put the pair of cloaks at his shoulders.

“Change.” The clerk passed him two small copper coins and a pouch.

“And this?” Adrian asked when he saw the small bag.

“Purse.” The clerk said. “On the house.”

Adrian stored the coins on the purse and then put it inside his trousers’ pockets, holding back his thoughts of ‘Yeah, you gifted me a small bag, but you charged me for a normal one’. Adrian then left the guild shop and later Czecheri. He activated the Elthary Rule to make his time fly once he crossed the main gate.